The invention pertains to a system for disposing of fluids and in particular a system for the safe disposal of body fluids collected during surgical procedures.
During surgery and other medical procedures, blood and other potentially infectious fluids are collected which must eventually be disposed of, without undue risk of infection to hospital workers by pathogens that may be present in the fluids. Disposable suction canisters, or disposable liners for canisters, are commonly used at present to collect fluids. These are either incinerated together with the collected fluids, or the fluids may be emptied to a drain by hospital workers and the empty canisters subsequently incinerated or removed to a remote location for disposal. Prior to incineration or disposal, disinfecting or gelling agents are often dispensed in the canisters. The additional handling of canisters required to carry out these procedures increases the likelihood of exposure to the collected body fluids and therefore increases the risk to workers of infection by pathogens in the fluids.
Reusable gravity fed fluid collection devices such as xe2x80x9ckickbucketsxe2x80x9d are also used in operating rooms, but such devices must typically be emptied and cleaned by hand, or disposable liners in such devices must be disposed of, again exposing workers to the risk of contact with the body fluids during handling. In the present application, all such devices are referred to as canisters.
Sophisticated fluid disposal systems have been described that use specialized collection containers that are used for reuse, such as the device disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,449,009 issued to Kerwin et al. on Sep. 12, 1995. Such units have the disadvantage that they are not adapted for use with standard canisters or with the operating room and hospital fixtures that are commonly adapted to fit standard canisters. The Kerwin et al. device also suffers from an important operational disadvantage. Hazardous fluids are removed from the collection container in Kerwin at al. by introduction of pressurized air into the collection container to displace the hazardous fluids. It will be appreciated that this approach entails some risk of rupturing the collection container and dispersing the hazardous fluids contained in it.
There is a need in the art to provide a system for disposing of body fluids which includes a reusable collection device and which permits disposal of the fluids and cleaning of the collection device for re-use without undue risk of exposure of hospital workers to pathogens in the fluids.
In accordance with a preferred embodiment of the invention, there is provided a system for collecting and disposing of body fluids collected during surgery comprising a canister and a servicing unit for removing the body fluids from the canister and cleaning the canister for re-use. The canister is a vessel having sidewalls, a bottom and a lid. The lid has an inlet port for the inflow of body fluids into the canister during surgery and also for the inflow of cleaning fluid during the cleaning of the canister. It has a vacuum port for application of vacuum to the canister to induce the inflow of body fluids into the canister. The lid also has an outlet port with a suction tube extending into the canister for the outflow of body fluids and cleaning fluid from the canister. Means are provided for closing the outlet port when the canister is being used to collect fluids during surgery.
The servicing unit has a body with a compartment which contains the canister while it is being emptied and cleaned. The servicing unit has an outlet conduit to conduct fluid from the canister and an inlet conduit to conduct cleaning fluid from a source of cleaning fluid to the inlet port of the canister. Means are provided to control the flow of fluids through the fluid conduit means. The servicing unit includes a decontamination chamber into which body fluid from the canister is emptied and in which the body fluid comes in contact with disinfectant before being released to a drain.
The compartment in the servicing unit into which the canister is placed has a lift mechanism for raising and lowering it, to raise the canister for connection to the inlet and outlet conduits of the servicing unit.
In another preferred embodiment of the canister, the lid has four ports, rather than three, separate ports being provided for the inflow of body fluid during surgery and for the inflow of cleaning fluid during cleaning of the canister, rather than a single port serving both functions.